CFPB Endorses National Strategy for Financial Literacy, Emphasizing Youth, Digital Skills, and Fraud Prevention

CFPB’s Role in Advancing National Financial Education Goals

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has expressed its support for the National Strategy for Financial Literacy as a member of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC). This strategy serves as a guiding framework to coordinate nationwide efforts aimed at improving Americans’ financial knowledge and decision-making capabilities.

As part of its ongoing work, the CFPB has developed evidence-based financial education resources designed to increase financial well-being. These resources form an important foundation for the agency’s contributions to the broader national effort. The bureau’s involvement reflects its mandate to help ensure that markets for consumer financial products operate in a fair, transparent, and competitive manner.

Youth Financial Capability as a Core Priority

One of the four central priorities outlined in the National Strategy for Financial Literacy is building youth financial capability. The strategy calls for establishing a foundation of basic financial skills beginning in childhood and continuing through young adulthood. The goal is to improve long-term financial outcomes for future generations of Americans.

The CFPB has contributed to this area through its youth financial education strategy, which provides a research-based framework. This framework identifies when and how children and youth develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviors linked to adult financial well-being. It emphasizes three key building blocks: improving executive functioning skills, fostering positive financial habits, and developing financial knowledge alongside decision-making abilities. These elements are presented as foundational to effective youth financial education.

Focus on Saving, Investing, Digital Literacy, and Fraud Awareness

The National Strategy identifies three additional priority areas. The first encourages greater knowledge of saving and investing to help Americans build financial security and work toward their financial goals. This includes raising awareness of emerging savings and investment vehicles, such as those designed specifically for children.

Digital financial literacy forms another key pillar, with the strategy seeking to strengthen Americans’ knowledge and decision-making skills. The objective is to support the safe and confident use of digital financial products and services. The final priority centers on scams and fraud education, aiming to equip consumers with the ability to recognize and avoid such threats while also providing tools to reduce the impact of any losses that occur.

Best Practices for Effective Financial Education

Beyond its four priority areas, the National Strategy for Financial Literacy outlines several best practices for delivering financial education. These include providing actionable and timely information at moments when individuals face important financial decisions. Education should also be tailored to specific life stages and personal circumstances rather than delivered in a one-size-fits-all manner.

Additional recommended practices involve reinforcing key concepts over time, incorporating experiential and hands-on learning opportunities, supporting high-quality instruction, and consistently evaluating the effectiveness of programs. These guidelines are intended to increase the likelihood that financial education efforts produce measurable improvements in consumer outcomes.

Development Process and Governance Structure

The National Strategy was developed through a collaborative process involving consultation with agencies represented on the FLEC, public input, and a review of independent research on financial literacy and education. This approach reflects an effort to ground the strategy in both practical experience and empirical evidence.

The Financial Literacy and Education Commission was established by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. Its statutory purpose is to improve the financial literacy and education of people in the United States by creating a national strategy. The FLEC consists of the heads of 23 federal agencies along with the White House Domestic Policy Council. It is chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury, with the Acting Director of the CFPB serving as Vice Chairman. This structure underscores the strategy’s status as a coordinated federal initiative.

Source

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published this record on 2026-10-02. Pennington Financial accessed it on 2026-10-09.